Edie McClurg

A plump, red-haired character player of features and TV who frequently brings warmth and humor to the many supporting roles she has played, Edie McClurg has also kept busy doing voiceovers for animate...
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Wreck-It Ralph Review

Wreck-It Ralph lives in an arcade and while that may be a longstanding fantasy for many of the children of the 80s the shine has more than worn off for Ralph. He resides in a videogame called Fix-It Felix and has been executing the same program for thirty years. Pursuant to the game’s 8-bit edict he must endeavor to destroy an apartment building as a quirky little do-gooder with a hammer tries to repair it. Ralph is a badguy but is he a bad guy? Feeling out of order he flees the world he knows to see if he can take his unfulfilling existence to the next level.
At a cursory glance Wreck-It Ralph may seem to offer nothing to anyone bereft of a passion for classic gaming. Truth be told there are ample references to games and gaming characters and not without a deep and knowledgeable affection. The jokes don’t come from the mere appearance of these characters but also videogame fundamentals actually permeate into the traits of the film’s original characters. In fact possibly the most thoughtful nod to gaming is the jerky movements of the characters within the Fix-it Felix cabinet superbly calling back to the limited range of motion afforded to 80s-era arcade fodder. It’s a balance of overt reference and the methods by which various gaming trademarks play into Wreck-It Ralph’s overarching universe.
And that universe is precisely what will draw in even those who have never held a controller. The landscapes through which Ralph travels are varied and gorgeous: from his modest but charming 8-bit home to the dark and foreboding nightmare of Hero’s Duty and finally to the garish wonderment of Sugar Rush. There are so many styles and applications of animation at work each dedicated to the conceptual scenery changes. You don’t need to know how to play Tapper or even that it ever existed as a real game to recognize that his almost stop-motion movements clash delightfully with the CG Ralph. And no Halo or Mario Kart knowledge required to understand the depth of detail in the worlds of Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush respectively.
But like any hardcore gamer will attest great games cannot live by rich environments alone. The best games like the best movies are founded upon remarkable characters. Ralph may be a arcade videogame villain but his appeal is as broad as his building-leveling shoulders. He represents that need in all of us to rise above our station to challenge the notion that we are predestined to one occupation or personality set. Ralph is a guy who’s bad because he’s programmed to be but he is constantly looking at the life he wants--the life of a hero--from the other side of the glass literally in fact. It’s a sweetly relatable theme that finds its way into other characters like Ralphs pint-sized nemesis Vanellope. It is from this theme that the movie derives the majority of its heart.
The voice cast here is exceptional but that should come as no surprise considering the characters seem modeled after the personalities of the performers selected or at least modeled after the characters they tend to portray. Ralph brought to life by John C. Reilly is a perennial sad sack with an awkward sense of humor that is somehow endearing. Voiced by Sarah Silverman Vanellope is a shrill snarky troublemaker who manages to be adorable despite herself. Felix is a dopey but sincere yokel…voiced by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer. Jane Lynch voices the bossy domineering female soldier with the endless vocabulary of put-downs. Need we say more? That’s not to say this approach is lazy; far from it. It gives the characters a fleshed-out lived-in quality.
Wreck-It Ralph significantly narrows the gap between Disney and Pixar in terms of excellence. It still seems strange to think of Disney and Pixar as two separate bodies but the fact is that as soon as Pixar made the choice to stand alone their films have outshined Disney’s by a considerable margin. Wreck-It Ralph borrows liberally from the Pixar playbook evident right from the moment the central conceit is revealed to be the bestowing of sentience and personality to inanimate entities. And like Pixar Wreck-It Ralph is at its most enjoyable and most clever when the audience experiences the functional mechanics of how these characters exist in their own world the specificity of their imagined living space and its logistics. Yet this time Disney has dug deeper than the amiable outward trappings and arrived at what makes us love the films of Pixar and quality family entertainment in general.
If there is a complaint to be had with Wreck-It Ralph it is merely that it introduces a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining concept and then limits itself to but a few outlets for its expression. The movie spends so much time in Sugar Rush and while it’s beautiful and captivating we wonder what the other games would have had to offer. It’s akin to Monday morning filmmaking “I would’ve done this” or “I would’ve done that ” but it would have been the cherry on the sundae or perhaps more appropriately the various fruits in the maze to have been able to witness Ralph’s interaction with other games.
By the time we reach the kill screen Wreck-It Ralph has used something as geeky and esoteric as the world of arcade gaming to warp us to a place of emotional resonance and utter delight. Suffice to say it has plenty of replay value.

This Friday, America will be graced with Alexander Payne's The Descendants, a movie that is resting with at least some substance on the pull of its cherished leading man: George Clooney. Although Clooney has the star power, it is important not to forget some of the smaller players in The Descendants, like Judy Greer.
Some of you might not recognize Greer by name, but you'd know her if you saw her. Greer is one of those omnipresent supporting actors, with smaller roles in countless movies. Although Greer is quite the formidable example of this type of performer, she is certainly not one the only one. See if you can guess the other supporting actors with impressive resumes from the hints provided below (the answers are below the videos)! Beware: some of the clips below are NSFW.
This Supporting Actor has played a mob boss who was outsmarted by Billy Crystal, a detective who is duped by Kevin Spacey, a gangster who befriends Robert De Niro’s son, and a nightclub owner who makes Chris Kattan very uncomfortable.
The Answer?
It's Chazz Palminteri!
This Supporting Actor has played a preppy WASP who is startled by Christina Ricci, the estranged biological mother of Robin Williams’ son, Warren Beatty’s unfaithful wife, and a mild-mannered reporter investigating a murderous Renée Zellweger,
The Answer?
It's Christine Baranski!
This Supporting Actor has played a businessman who likes to “Pow!” Will Ferrell, a taser-happy Nevada policeman with no patience for Bradley Cooper, a disloyal CIA agent who betrays Ashton Kutcher and a former military man who amps up the strength of Rob Corddry's paintball team.
The Answer?
It's Rob Riggle!
This Supporting Actor has played the flighty mother of an attendant of Johnny Depp’s chocolate factory, a long-named dodgeball champ who falls in love with Joel David Moore, the tentacled crewmember of Tim Allen’s space ship, and as a member of a futuristic society wherein Zach Galifianakis greets people by giving them the finger.
The Answer?
It's Missi Pyle!
This Supporting Actor has played a slimy gangster in a Coen Brothers movie, a bumbling producer’s assistant in a Coen Brothers movie, an inept private eye in a Coen Brothers movie and a mysterious dry cleaning investor in a Coen Brothers movie.
The Answer?
It's Jon Polito!
This Supporting Actor has played a med school interviewer who lost his temper with Kal Penn, the headstrong future father-in-law of Jason Biggs, a catchphrase-happy former actor involved in a folk music production starring Eugene Levy, and the captain of a space ship fostering the entire population of a very overweight humanity.
The Answer?
It's Fred Willard!
This Supporting Actor has played an airheaded secretary at Matthew Broderick’s high school, the neglectful mother of Juliet Lewis, an airport employee who curses out Steve Martin, and the doting assistant to a college-bound Rodney Dangerfield.
The Answer?
It's Edie McClurg!
This Supporting Actor has played an untrusting bureaucrat who teaches Ron Perlman how to smoke a cigar, the mayor of a village that Jim Carrey villainizes, the father of one of Ben Stiller’s camp counselors, and the co-coach of Paul Giamatti’s wrestling team. But of course, he's probably best known for his TV work...
The Answer?
It's Jeffrey Tambor!
This Supporting Actor has played a soldier on Tom Hanks’ rescue mission, one of the only non-imaginary friends of Russell Crowe, a college student who gets attacked by an anti-Semitic Michael Rapaport (suspension of disbelief), and a high schooler who pals around with Anthony Rapp.
The Answer?
It's Adam Goldberg!
This Supporting Actor has played a vindictive prep school dean who was chastised by Al Pacino, an FBI employee who is outsmarted by Joe Pesci, an underhanded politician who is outshined by Chris Rock, and the Secretary of Defense who fends off alien attackers with Will Smith.
The Answer?
It's James Rebhorn!

Regular guest on a short-lived morning variety series, "The David Letterman Show"

Provided voice for animated TV series, "Snorks"

Joined the Pitschel Players in San Francisco

Taught radio at the University of Missouri

Regular on the short-lived comedy series, "No Soap, Radio"

Voiced character for an animated TV series, "The New Jetsons"

Co-star of a short-lived TV series, "The Kallikaks"

Regular on the short-lived series, "Harper Valley PTA"

Debut in a TV-movie, "Bill on His Own"

Feature acting debut, "Carrie"

Debut as regular on variety series, "Tony Orlando and Dawn"

Became a member of the Los Angeles Groundlings Improv Comedy Revue

Summary

A plump, red-haired character player of features and TV who frequently brings warmth and humor to the many supporting roles she has played, Edie McClurg has also kept busy doing voiceovers for animated children's series and features.